Recently, Keith Terreri, NEC Corporation of America’s CFO and SVP of Corporate Operations and IT, spoke with Dan Larson, host of the ‘Count Me In’ Podcast from the Institute of Management of Accountants.
In his role, Keith has the unique advantage of overseeing finance and IT for NECAM. In this podcast episode, Keith describes the convergence of these two pivotal roles and provides important tips on cybersecurity that any organization can benefit from.
Key takeaways from the podcast include:
How converging the role of CIO and CFO helped increase collaboration, communication and visibility between finance, corporate operations, and IT teams.
Why cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, not just IT, and why cyber liability is a financial risk to all organizations.
How adopting the slogan, “We’re all IT now,” helped increase collaboration between finance, corporate operations, and IT and shift to a “one team” mentality.
Why cybersecurity awareness and good business judgement must be communicated to employees on a frequent basis
Why all businesses, no matter the type or size, need to prioritize cybersecurity and Keith’s four steps to get started.
Introducing the brand-new NEC Virtual Customer Experience (VCX) center!
Designed to connect customers and partners directly with our latest AI and biometrics technology in simulated environments, the VCX is a 360-degree photorealistic and interactive virtual tour of the technology featured in NEC’s Customer Experience Centers.
Here, visitors can virtually explore NEC’s identity management and CX platform in four different vertical market settings without traveling to our physical centers in Texas or California.
Aviation: Experience a frictionless and hygienic travel journey through a simulated airport using the NEC I:Delight platform.
Federal Government: Observe first-hand how NEC’s digital identity platform promotes the safety and preservation of public and national security.
Healthcare: Learn how hospitals can achieve a safe return to normal operations while managing employee and patient expectations through NEC I:Delight.
Retail: Visit the virtual restaurant and discover how NEC I:Delight can help retail businesses increase revenue, lower operating costs and improve the quick serve restaurant customer experience.
Ready to Tour NEC’s VCX Center?
Schedule a guided virtual tour with an NEC sales executive or our VCX Program Manager and learn how NEC’s solutions can help provide world-class service to your customers.
Unlock a seamless, hands-free experience that is secure, frictionless, and personalized using our award-winning biometrics and AI technology. Schedule your tour today and see what is possible!
NEC’s 2020 Innovations Increase Safety, Business Continuity and Digital Transformations
Challenging and chaotic are choice words to describe 2020. But during the healthcare crisis and weather emergencies, everyday heroes emerged.
We applaud the frontline workers, healthcare providers and first responders. We also recognize IT and telecommunications professionals, network administrators and data managers who supported critical technology infrastructures.
The immense disruptions in 2020 propelled innovations in the way we live and work. While NEC is continuously advancing in the areas of communications, security, collaboration platforms and customer experience, we redoubled our efforts last year.
Safer, secure contactless touchpoints As we move forward, public health and safety remain top priorities. For individuals and organizations, technologies that support both frictionless access and social distancing measures are now more important than ever.
That’s the reason we prioritized development of “touchless” touchpoints to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Our revolutionary approach to Digital Transformation (DX), NEC I:Delight, includes an advanced, secure and scalable platform to support contactless, yet robust customer experiences.
Although we began our journey toward touchless technology long before the current crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforces our commitment to continue advancing our biometric and AI solutions for aviation, immigration, retail and hospitality industries, healthcare, education and more.
Screening travelers to ensure health and security A highlight of 2020 is the Hawaii Department of Transportation selecting an NEC-led team for deployment of a thermal screening solution at all five state-run airports.
NEC NeoFace® Thermal Express leverages thermal sensing and facial recognition technologies to detect elevated body temperature (EBT) and alert screeners to anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or greater.
In addition, we introduced a partnership with SITA, a global provider of IT and communications infrastructure for 80% of the world’s airports. NEC’s Advanced Identity Matcher – Edge Source (AIM-ES) technology uses the most accurate face matching algorithms as validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
In combination with our NeoFace algorithm, we deliver an all-in-one solution capable of creating recognition galleries and templates as well as providing identity matching and scoring. It easily integrates with the SITA Smart Path whole-journey identity management solution, which creates a specialized application for airport travelers. Because NEC’s I:Delight uses an individual’s unique ID, it is more secure than other online money transfer services.
New generation cloud communications and collaborations The way businesses work has changed. Corporations must be flexible and ready to adapt to teleworking at a moment’s notice.
For 120 years, NEC has pioneered Information and Communications Technologies, including Smart Enterprise cloud computing and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). As the current global market share leader in on-premises business phone systems, we were pleased to announce a global partnership with Intermedia, a leading provider of cloud-based communications solutions.
Our collaborations with Intermedia launched a new generation of our UNIVERGE BLUE® cloud communications portfolio. The new UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE solutions are reliable and easy to deploy, while remaining highly scalable and extremely cost-effective.
In addition to advancing business continuity, more employees will be able to work safely from home while increasing their productivity. The new UNIVERGE BLUE is also easy for channel partners to sell, install and support.
Reduce telecommunications costs With the surge in network connectivity requirements, businesses are looking for ways to control costs while maintaining reliability and security.
We launched Network Connect to help cut enterprise telecommunications costs up to 30% or more annually. The intelligent call routing solution uses AI and machine learning to establish the most optimal call path from hundreds of global carriers.
You don’t need to invest in additional infrastructure or change anything about your business operations. NEC’s Network Connect is the first call-routing solution that gives enterprise access to the wholesale telecom market.
NEC Visionary Week Another area that we reimagined in 2020 is NEC’s iEXPO. NEC Visionary Week was a virtual event packed with powerful insights to fuel future decisions. Featuring global problem solvers and tech influencers, the agenda included ideas for conquering COVID-19 and carving out a new normal, harnessing AI, 5G and digital transformations to improve economies, business operations and our societies.
If you missed Visionary Week in December, you can still watch the enlightening content on-demand until January 30th. Click here to sign-up now.
As we look forward to 2021 and beyond, we thank you for your partnership. Our commitment to innovations, digital transformation, safety, security and business continuity remains steadfast. Working together, we can build greater agility and resilience in enterprise systems to create a healthier future. Happy New Year!
Have a Question?
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Fill out the form, and we will get back with you.
We’ll be looking forward to tracking this story as the
project moves ahead over the coming months!
Star Alliance and NEC
Corporation Sign Partnership Agreement to Enhance Passenger Experience through
Biometric Data Recognition Technology
Frankfurt, Germany – July
26th, 2019 – Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance,
and NEC Corporation, global leader in IT, network and biometric technologies,
today signed a partnership agreement to develop a biometric data-based
identification platform that will significantly improve the travel experience
for frequent flyer program customers of Star Alliance member airlines.
Once implemented, Star Alliance customers who opt-in to biometrics will have a seamless and hands-free passenger experience, allowing them to pass through curb-to-gate touchpoints within airports, such as check-in kiosks, bag-drop, lounges, and boarding gates, which traditionally require both a passport and boarding pass, by using a secure identity management solution featuring facial recognition technology.
The service will be available to
customers who are enrolled in one of the Star Alliance frequent flyer programs
and who have authorized the use of their biometric data.
NEC’s first-ever global partner conference, ADVANTAGE 2019, brought together more than 550 attendees from North America, EMEA and Latin America to learn, share and socialize during the three-day event. Attendees representing 200 partners from 50 countries gathered at the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando, including channel partners, systems integrators, technology partners and guests along with key NEC executives.
With its theme of “Experience. Exchange. Excite,” ADVANTAGE delivered a rich blend of experts, guest speakers, networking opportunities, best practices sharing, deep dives into digital workspace topics, and a view of upcoming offerings. NEC executives, including Enterprise Technologies SVP Paul Kievit, Solutions and Services SVP Ram Menghani, and VP of Digital Platform Solutions Paul Aiello, provided a glimpse into the future of the Smart Enterprise and exciting possibilities that are available via dynamic delivery including Cloud, Smart WorkSpace and the UNIVERGE Integration Platform.
Woven throughout the presentations and educational sessions was the importance of the overall customer experience.
Digital transformation enables businesses to prioritize customer experience (CX), which elevates a commitment to employee experience (EX). For example, NEC’s Smart Workspace enhances employee experiences by providing work flexibility, improved collaboration, increased productivity and engagement. Deploying Smart Workspace allows organizations to reduce costs, retain talent, and create a great work culture.
Break-out sessions focused on current workforce trends, secure data management, unified communications solutions, high-availability servers, overcoming infrastructure challenges, and the importance of building customer relationships.
This year’s Solutions Expo featured global innovative solutions from the U.S., Japan and EMEA. The exhibits showcased the best of NEC’s current offerings as well as solutions that are coming soon.
Check out the ADVANTAGE photo album for a closer look at this year’s conference activities
Presentations
Designed to Inspire
This year’s agenda also featured guest
presenters who shared their expertise, ideas and knowledge with the audience.
Delivering the keynote address was Seth Mattison,
well-known international expert and author on workforce trends, generational
dynamics and business strategy. Seth, who is CEO of Luminate Labs, energized
the audience with his discussion on The
Future of Work and how workforce dynamics are shaping the new workplace.
LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan expanded
on how NEC is an
important partner in helping the golf organization achieve an
excellent fan experience at its events.
During the “Proud to Partner” session, several of NEC’s top systems integrators shared stories of success, transformation and best practices from their businesses. Featured speakers included executives from AllStar Communications, SETel, Forerunner, Koning & Hartman and Datasciences . Highlights from this session included a success story about a large university win that defined a roadmap for how SETel was able to combine creative financing through NEC Financial Services with NEC technology solutions and partner managed services to deliver an OPEX model to the customer, increased margins to the partner, and eliminate competitive bids.
Honoring
NEC’s Valued Partners
The ADVANTAGE 2019 conference also
provides the opportunity to recognize our extraordinary worldwide partners
during the awards presentation. The focus was to not only award top performers for their demonstrated
excellence over the past year, but also to give partners the opportunity to
share insights and learn from each other. See a full list of the awards here.
The record-breaking attendance and enthusiastic participation from partners from around the globe made for a smashing success at NEC’s first global ADVANTAGE partner conference. Together, NEC and its partners continue to bring IT and communication solutions that enable organizations and their workforces to embrace the value of digital transformation.
To get an up-close look at ADVANTAGE 2019 check out our video.
Thanks to all who joined us in Orlando. See you in 2020 !
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